The fabric winding unit of a circular knitting machine usually is either suspended from and rotatable with the large diameter ring gear of the machine, or is mounted for rotation upon a central part of the machine. In the latter case, one or more drive members connected to the machine's large diameter ring gear impart synchronous rotation to the winding unit.
A suspension type winding unit is usually employed for an interlock stitch knitting machine having a double bed. For example, the invention disclosed in Japanese published Patent No. Hei 2-191751 discloses a suspension type fabric winding unit, and also discloses an automatic "thrusting"](i.e., pushing) device that engages and pushes the rolls of knitted fabric wound by the winding unit. The device of such patent is provided with a rotatable fabric winding roll or shaft having one end that is releasably connected to a support arm of a device for rotating the shaft. The other end of the shaft acts as a universal joint and is supported by a second support arm on the opposite side of the winding unit. The fabric rolled on the shaft is transferred to a discharge position by transfer means. A reciprocatingly movable thrusting device located adjacent a fabric discharge position effects discharge of the rolled fabric from the machine.
A problem arising with a suspension type winding unit is that it places a heavy load upon the drive components of the means for transferring the roll of knitted fabric to a discharge position. This problem has been eliminated by the invention disclosed in Japanese published Patent No. Hei 2-319144, which was published subsequent to filing of the commonly owned Japanese application upon which the present application asserts priority rights. In such invention a displaceable transfer means that displaces the roll of fabric to a discharge position temporarily restrains the shaft upon which the fabric is wound and permits the roll of fabric to fall freely to a discharge position so as to reduce the load on the transfer means. However, due to the relatively large vertical distance through which the fabric falls, its final position is somewhat uncertain.
The fabric knitted by the ordinary knitting machine, and particularly pile fabric, usually is wound into a soft roll. This presents another problem since when the roll of fabric is removed from the shaft of the winding unit by the fabric thrusting device, the side of the fabric roll may be deformed by the device to such an extent that the thrusting stroke is insufficient. This results in non-ejection of the rolled fabric from the machine.